Next years backcourt

[Actionthrill]

How good will the backcourt be with Battle, Howard, and Gillon? And don't you think we need another guard? 3 are not enough in my opinion. What happens if there is an injury? Just trying to start a new topic.

 

[Rage4CUSE]

Guillon is a know commodity on offense. He can shoot it and take it to the rim to finish or set up somebody off of the drive. It's on defense where he might be a liability because of his height.

Hopefully Howard had worked on his jumpshot in the offense because it was non-existent except for the NCAA tournament.

And unlike some people like to admit, Battle is a freshman so he is a complete question mark on how he will perform at the college level.

 

[br801]

And unlike some people like to admit, Battle is a freshman so he is a complete question mark on how he will perform at the college level.

"Complete question mark" is a bit of an exaggeration. He's a possible one-and-doner who will see big minutes from day one. The chances that he isn't a significant contributor on next season's team are slim.

 

[Dave85]

How good will the backcourt be with Battle, Howard, and Gillon? And don't you think we need another guard? 3 are not enough in my opinion. What happens if there is an injury? Just trying to start a new topic.

I think Gillon / Battle might be the best top of the zone defense we've had in a very long time. And not only that, with those two we will have an insanely fast fast-break offense that will be our teams biggest strength. Howard will get meaningful minutes but he will have strong competition for PT.

Offense is going to come from guards, Lydon, Roberson, Moyle, Coleman-Paschal. I think we will be fine. I don't think we will go 30-3 but I think we will have a better season record than 2015-16.

 

[jordoo]

I really like the fact that all 3 of these guards will be able to make plays off the bounce. Howard is likely always going to be the main ball handler when he plays but both Gillon and Battle will be able to play off the ball which means any combination of these guys should be a very functional backcourt. Obviously how good of a backcourt depends on a lot of things. Defensively all 3 really need to learn the system and get used to playing along side each other. Offensively how much will Frank improve, how well will Tyus adjust to CBB will have a lot to do with things. I think Battle needs to be serviceable from 3 like close to 35% for this backcourt to be really good. That is very doable if he takes good shots.

 

[orangenirvana]

I think Battle will be a beast. Athletic freak. Not a polished outside shooter but his form is good enough and players will play off of him to prevent the dribble-drive to where I don't think it will hurt him much. Watching his games, it's pretty obvious imo that he would have averaged 35 ppg this year if his coaches wanted him to. Some thinks he lacked fire/hustle but I just think he was bored. The most talented 2 guard we've had in a while.

 

[TheCusian]

Guillon is a know commodity on offense. He can shoot it and take it to the rim to finish or set up somebody off of the drive. It's on defense where he might be a liability because of his height. Hopefully Howard had worked on his jumpshot in the offense because it was non-existent except for the NCAA tournament. And unlike some people like to admit, Battle is a freshman so he is a complete question mark on how he will perform at the college level.

Complete question mark?

No. We have years of evaluation when kids with similar size and skill go from HS/Prep to college. We have a pretty good idea of how he'll perform. The unknown is his mental makeup.

 

[Cusefan0307]

My main concern is having to play against a packed in paint no matter who we have on the floor. I'm not sold any of them will be good from the outside. I'm thinking we see a scenario similar to 12-13 with Triche/MCW. Good at everything except shooting.

 

[Dave85]

My main concern is having to play against a packed in paint no matter who we have on the floor. I'm not sold any of them will be good from the outside. I'm thinking we see a scenario similar to 12-13 with Triche/MCW. Good at everything except shooting.

I sure hope not. I don't think so. It sounds like Gillon and Battle are fast enough to play really good defense and fast-break basketball.

Here's a good lineup article from Nunes:

http://www.nunesmagician.com/2016/5...ball-2016-2017-rotation-starters-sans-malachi

 

[Cusefan0307]

I sure hope not. I don't think so. It sounds like Gillon and Battle are fast enough to play really good defense and fast-break basketball.

Here's a good lineup article from Nunes:

http://www.nunesmagician.com/2016/5...ball-2016-2017-rotation-starters-sans-malachi

Correct. Sounds like 12-13 to me. Triche/MCW were great in transition and played great defense. However, they were 29% three point shooters.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I think we'll have three guards that are all capable playmakers. It's going to be fun.

 

[Dave85]

Correct. Sounds like 12-13 to me. Triche/MCW were great in transition and played great defense. However, they were 29% three point shooters.

CBB is so much faster Battle's numbers may be less from 3. But Gillon may be a pleasant surprise from 3. We still have Lydon making 3s hopefully at much higher level. I think our team will be pretty good. I'm more optimistic about 2016-17 than 2015-16 even without Mal coming back.

 

[NineOneSeven]

I think Gillon / Battle might be the best top of the zone defense we've had in a very long time. And not only that, with those two we will have an insanely fast fast-break offense that will be our teams biggest strength. Howard will get meaningful minutes but he will have strong competition for PT.

Offense is going to come from guards, Lydon, Roberson, Moyle, Coleman-Paschal. I think we will be fine. I don't think we will go 30-3 but I think we will have a better season record than 2015-16.

Michael Carter-Williams/Triche was pretty good

 

[Dave85]

Michael Carter-Williams/Triche was pretty good

I close my eyes and I can still seem them doing the top of the zone shifting. That was really good top of the zone defense!

 

[br801]

CBB is so much faster Battle's numbers may be less from 3. But Gillon may be a pleasant surprise from 3. We still have Lydon making 3s hopefully at much higher level. I think our team will be pretty good. I'm more optimistic about 2016-17 than 2015-16 even without Mal coming back.

Gillon is a proven commodity shooting the three. He was close to 40% his first two years, and even last season was at 33.5% when shooting them in volume. He and Lydon will be the deep threats next season. Lydon's percentage will likely drop a bit as he is asked to shoot them more frequently, but I imagine he can come in at around 40% if he is relatively selective.

 

[Dave85]

Gillon is a proven commodity shooting the three. He was close to 40% his first two years, and even last season was at 33.5% when shooting them in volume. He and Lydon will be the deep threats next season. Lydon's percentage will likely drop a bit as he is asked to shoot them more frequently, but I imagine he can come in at around 40% if he is relatively selective.

I agree with your comments.

Lydon's sophomore jump will be really interesting to watch. I hope he makes a huge leap in his game next year. I thought he had a pretty terrific freshmen year and many times I thought he more poise than Malachi.

 

[OrangeDW]

Obviously depth at guard is a concern...but I'm more concerned with the SF spot. Not sure Lydon has a SF game yet. How many of his 3's came off of pick and pops this year? It will be an adjustment.

 

[br801]

I agree with your comments.

Lydon's sophomore jump will be really interesting to watch. I hope he makes a huge leap in his game next year. I thought he had a pretty terrific freshmen year and many times I thought he more poise than Malachi.

He will be physically stronger, not playing out of position at the back of the zone too often, and should be more consistently assertive offensively. So yes, the prospects are exciting.

 

[dasher]

I think Gillon / Battle might be the best top of the zone defense we've had in a very long time. And not only that, with those two we will have an insanely fast fast-break offense that will be our teams biggest strength. Howard will get meaningful minutes but he will have strong competition for PT.

Offense is going to come from guards, Lydon, Roberson, Moyle, Coleman-Paschal. I think we will be fine. I don't think we will go 30-3 but I think we will have a better season record than 2015-16.

Why would you say that? Honestly, I think that is ridiculous to say at this point. Gillon is small and the one thing we know about the zone is that the thing that makes it tough is our length. He doesn't have that. And Battle hasn't played one second of our zone in a d-1 game. We had MCW and Triche take us to the final four with their defense at the top of the zone. Same with G and Cooney. Andy Rautins and Triche were fantastic. All except Triche were experienced in the zone. Gillon and Battle have zero seconds playing zone at the level we play.

 

[HoustonCuse]

Why would you say that? Honestly, I think that is ridiculous to say at this point. Gillon is small and the one thing we know about the zone is that the thing that makes it tough is our length. He doesn't have that. And Battle hasn't played one second of our zone in a d-1 game. We had MCW and Triche take us to the final four with their defense at the top of the zone. Same with G and Cooney. Andy Rautins and Triche were fantastic. All except Triche were experienced in the zone. Gillon and Battle have zero seconds playing zone at the level we play.

I was thinking the exact same thing.

 

[Dave85]

Why would you say that? Honestly, I think that is ridiculous to say at this point. Gillon is small and the one thing we know about the zone is that the thing that makes it tough is our length. He doesn't have that. And Battle hasn't played one second of our zone in a d-1 game. We had MCW and Triche take us to the final four with their defense at the top of the zone. Same with G and Cooney. Andy Rautins and Triche were fantastic. All except Triche were experienced in the zone. Gillon and Battle have zero seconds playing zone at the level we play.

They will not be as good as Rautins and Triche after 3 or 4 years of experience. Why I am saying this is both Gillon and Battle are touted as being extremely fast high energy players. And after watching their highlight videos it's easy to see why both players are highly touted. I know their highlight videos they never show any bad plays. But have you looked at both player's highlight videos? There's some really good stuff in those videos and lots of it. That's all the information I have to go on. The scouting reports, commentary by coaches, and highlight videos. I think based on what I've said I will not be disappointed.

But you are right, Gillon may not be able to compete in the ACC and Battle may pull a Kaleb. But I think it's unlikely.

 

[jordoo]

Why would you say that? Honestly, I think that is ridiculous to say at this point. Gillon is small and the one thing we know about the zone is that the thing that makes it tough is our length. He doesn't have that. And Battle hasn't played one second of our zone in a d-1 game. We had MCW and Triche take us to the final four with their defense at the top of the zone. Same with G and Cooney. Andy Rautins and Triche were fantastic. All except Triche were experienced in the zone. Gillon and Battle have zero seconds playing zone at the level we play.

Agreed our backcourts defense is likely the biggest question IMO. Two have never played in it, one is much smaller than our usual guys and Frank who did play never seemed to fully grasp the whens and wheres of the defense. I think they will struggle early and hope that we have enough shotblocking to counteract it until they get things down.

 

[dasher]

They will not be as good as Rautins and Triche after 3 or 4 years of experience. Why I am saying this is both Gillon and Battle are touted as being extremely fast high energy players. And after watching their highlight videos it's easy to see why both players are highly touted. I know their highlight videos and everything and they never show any bad plays. But have you looked at both player's highlight videos? There's some really good stuff in those videos and lots of it. That's all the information I have to go on. The scouting reports, commentary by coaches, and highlight videos. I think based on what I've said I will not be disappointed.

But you are right, Gillon may not be able to compete in the ACC and Battle may pull a Kaleb. But I think it's unlikely.

That isn't near the same thing as what you said. You said that they would be the best that we have seen in a long time. That could end up being true. Most probably it won't. But there is no evidence other than hoping that it is true. we have had some great defensive pairs at the top of the zone in the best 6 years. and to suggest that two guys who haven't played it will be the best we have had in years is unfair to the guys that have played for us in the past. Very unfair.

 

[reedny]

I think we'll have three guards that are all capable playmakers. It's going to be fun.

I'm concerned about zone D up top and scoring overall could be an issue. We need depth at the 2 and 3 (no backups at either spot). I think our rebounding's going to improve; hopefully we sign up some guys that can give us some low-block offensive balance.

 

[Dave85]

That isn't near the same thing as what you said. You said that they would be the best that we have seen in a long time. That could end up being true. Most probably it won't. But there is no evidence other than hoping that it is true. we have had some great defensive pairs at the top of the zone in the best 6 years. and to suggest that two guys who haven't played it will be the best we have had in years is unfair to the guys that have played for us in the past. Very unfair.

I wasn't a big fan of TE on defense or his fast break. Kaleb was a bust. TC and G will not as good as Triche based defenses and before. That is what I mean possibly better. Don't get me wrong, TC and G were good. But if you have two really fast guys I just think they are going to be really good at steals and fast breaks. It could a magical pairing which each guy is trying to get the other guy on a fast break. I'm not saying anything definitive. Maybe I should have preferenced my statement by "possibly".